Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1887-08-11
pAKoTA,s PoP. WEED.

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DAK0Ta,s POE WEED.
a Remarkable 2sant w n,ch serDetsmes
Creates Ii Decided Sensation.
Chicago Tribune: The last six yeas
have developed wonderful things in
Dakota, both 10 the productions of the
soil and of the settlers, if we may be-
lleye the newspapers, and until we
have occasion to doubt a Dakota .editcr
our confidence will remain mistaken.
Eastern Dakota Is old nos and no new
thing can come out of it to startie the
world, ince the delicious buffalo berry
acknowledged to a Pierre lady, o year
ago, that it wss discovered, men of
science have crossed the big Muddy"
into the wiids beyond, and their dis.
coyeries are numerous and eve more
wonderful than before. A Dakota
editor and his wife while out shaking
recently discovered several new species
OF snakes, the most inter-
esting of which was the fish SNAKE
Two years ago the pop.weed first made
Its appearance along the borders Of
civilization from the interior of the
Sioux reservation; and cattlemen along
the Missouri bottoms have had interest
ing times ever since. 1t is quite late in
the fell when the pop-weed ball begins
TO roll like tumble weeds over the
prsiries. The pop weed is a rank grow
ing weed known only to this section; it
has a stalk like the cabbage plant with
a large round top the s,ze Of a Hubbard
squash and about the same color. There
are thousands of acres of the pop-weed
in the reservation and they are very
numerous and grow to q prodlgious size
in the vicinity of 'talkali beds" When
the terrific northwest winds blow late
in b fall the pop.balls become de.
teached from the stalks and roll for miles
over the prairies; until they reach nn-
even country or other distractions where
they accumulate and pile up like high
banks OF snow. Behind these banks Of
weeds the wild buffalo fou nd shelter in
mid winter from the fierce bliZzards. If
the pop-weed ball comes foroibly in
contact with any hard object while roll
ing il explodes with o tremendous report
Q cloud of fine powder passes on through
the air, and Thousands OF sharp fine
needles are thrown ont in every direc-
ton. These needles are the seeds of tae
pop-weed and are what produce the
mischief with stock, for they are very
penetrating. A '.critter' will run from
a rolling pop-weed like o jack rabbit
from q coyote. The Indians now locat-
ed at Brute agency tell strange and
interesting stories about the weed. 1t
10 said that the young braves of the
tribe for discipline and TO prepare them
selves for great torture,. would select
chiefs and array themselves in battle
line and fight with these pop-bails like
l nnhnnihnvs in ,..nomhall aanfaot fNba
battle OF the pop weed" wat held onee q
year, and was witnessed by the whole
tribe with great pomp and parade. This
day was to the young braves what the
fourth of July is to the American youth.
There were the smoke and noise of bat
tie to perfection, and the fine, sharp
needles caused intense pam. Tie great
est exhibitions OF bravery were rewarded
by promotion in the tribe, and repre-
tatlyes OF handsome bead work were made
by the young braves best girls. But
the famous weed, that once
sheltered tho wild buffalo of the PLAINS
from the winter storms and was used in
the sham battles of the Young sioux
braves, has sinc3 become very obnoxious
to the Missouri river cattlemen, and
they are sgitating the question OF the
best method of obtaining protection from
il. In the "village of Pop-Weed" ESQ
called by the Indians because the weeds
cover the ground for miles at this point
and grow very large) are the arrow
grounds. just before starting on the
annual hunt they went in large numbers
TO the pop-weed village for arrows. The
needles from the largest pop-weeds are
very long, and when baked in hot
ashes become very hard and
strong, and make good arrows. When
they found q large pop-ball they would
shoot into it with arrows and oanse it
to explode and throw out its needles,
which they gathered and prepared for
use. The Indians went arrowing late
in the fall. aud before the pop-weed
ball commenced to roll over the prairies
all the Indian villages were deserted.
This was the order OF the tribe every
fall to get their horses and other stock
ont of the way of the DANGEROUS pop
weed to prevent them from running
away. The pop-weed is as yet unknown
to botanists.
a.Ha